Turn Your Data Range into a Table for Easy Data Management and Formatting

The new tables functionality in Microsoft Office Excel 2007 provides options for formatting and managing your data more easily and dynamically than ever before.

To convert a data range to a table:

1. Click anywhere in the range.

2. On the Home tab, in the Styles section, click Format as Table.

3. Click to apply a table style. The Format as Table dialog box appears, where you can confirm the data range and indicate whether your range contains headers. Click OK in this dialog box to convert the range to a table and apply selected formatting.

Notice that table headers automatically contain AutoFilter arrows. Additionally, when you click into a table, the Table Tools Design tab becomes available, from which you can edit the table style, add options such as banded columns or a total row, and perform other data management tasks.

Apply a Sum or Other Function to Every Row in a Data Range in One Step

When you format a data range as a table in Microsoft Office Excel 2007, you can add a calculated column—a column of functions (such as sums or averages)—in just one step.

To convert a data range to an Excel 2007 table, click in the range, and then on the Home tab, in the Styles section, click Format as Table, and then click to apply a table style.When your range is formatted as a table, click in a cell of any empty table column, or a cell in the column directly to the right of the table, on any data row. Then in just that cell, add the function or formula you need. (For example, sum all data on that row of the table.) When you press ENTER to apply your formula in that cell, the entire table column is populated with the same formula, adjusted for each applicable data row. If your insertion point was in the column to the right of the table, Excel formats that column to become part of the table when it generates the calculated column.